Saddam Hussein is born in Tikrit province, a rural area in northern
central Iraq about 100 miles north of Baghdad.

1958

A secondary school student, Saddam is arrested for his political activities and
serves six months in jail. He also marries Sajida, his first cousin; the couple go on to have
two sons and three daughters.

February 25, 1960

An Iraqi court sentences Saddam to death in absentia for his role in
the Kassem assassination plot.

February 8, 1963

Saddam returns to Iraq following the Ramadan Revolution in which
Baath party members overthrow Kassem. But after six months of unrest, a fresh military
coup results in the ascension of Abdul Salam Arif as Iraq's ruler.

September 1966

Still in prison, Saddam is elected deputy secretary general of the Baath
party.

1968

Mounting the first tank to besiege the presidential palace, Saddam participates in a
coup that leads to the ascension of fellow Baath party member Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr.
Saddam is personally put "in charge of a swift operation to purge the new government ...
of certain of the old regime's figures," according to the website of Iraq's Mission to the
United Nations.

1972

Saddam leads the process of nationalizing oil companies in Iraq.

1979

After years of consolidating his power, Saddam takes over as president (with al-
Bakr officially stepping down due to illness). Saddam overhauls the ruling Baath party,
reportedly executing up to 400 members in an attempt to strengthen his power base,
weaken his enemies and instill fear in those who might oppose him.

1986

The United Nations reports that Iraq used mustard gas and nerve agents on Iranian
soldiers in 1981 and 1984.

1990

Iraqi troops invade and occupy neighboring Kuwait in August. An international
coalition, led by the United States, forms and threatens to remove Saddam's forces from
Kuwait.

1995

The "oil-for-food" program is implemented through the United Nations, with Iraq
selling its oil in exchange for food and other humanitarian supplies. Saddam is re-elected
as Iraq's president.

1998

The United Nations withdraws its weapons inspectors from Iraq, claiming Saddam
has made it impossible for them to determine whether the country has chemical,
biological or nuclear weapons, which the 1991 cease-fire agreement prohibits. U.S. and
British forces conduct four days of airstrikes. The U.S. Congress also passes the Iraq
Liberation Act, which calls for toppling Saddam's regime.

1956

Shortly after moving to Baghdad, Saddam joins the Arab Baath Socialist Party, a
group founded in Syria in the 1940s and initially dedicated to secularism, socialism and
pan-Arab unionism.

1959

Saddam takes part in a failed assassination attempt on Gen. Karim Kassem, who
became Iraq's prime minister in 1958 in a military-led coup. Saddam is shot in the leg
during the botched attempt, but he safely flees Iraq for Syria and Egypt.

1962

Saddam completes his secondary school studies in Egypt and enrolls at the College
of Law in Cairo.

October 14, 1964

With the Baath party having lost its grip on power, Saddam is arrested
again.

1967

Saddam escapes from jail, according to the official website of Iraq's Mission to the
United Nations.

1969

Saddam is officially named vice chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council,
the internal political organization that shapes most Iraqi policies, making him effectively
the second in command in al-Bakr's government.

1974

Saddam plays a critical role in devising and carrying out the Kurdish autonomy
law. The decree, implemented unilaterally, grants limited freedoms to Kurds in northern
Iraq. The Kurdistan Democratic Pary rejects the directive, leading the Baghdad
government to launch a bloody assault on Iraqi Kurds.

1980

A series of border skirmishes erupt into a full-fledged war between Iraq and Iran.

1988

The Iran-Iraq War ends in a stalemate. The same year, Saddam's military attacks
Kurdish areas in northern Iraq, killing 50,000 to 100,000 people with chemical weapons,
mass executions and forced relocations, according to the U.S. State Department.

1991

A U.S.-led coalition forces Iraqi troops out of Kuwait but stops short of
challenging Saddam's grip on power. Saddam agrees to a cease-fire that requires an end
to Iraq's weapons of mass destruction program, and other measures to economic sanctions
and military no-fly zones in northern and southern Iraq.

1996

Iraqi forces, allied with the Kurdistan Democratic Party, launch a campaign into
the northern no-fly zone. The United States retaliates with missile strikes against air
defense targets in southern Iraq.

2002

The war of words between Saddam and U.S. President Bush escalates, threatening
to erupt into armed conflict. Bush calls Iraq, along with Iran and North Korea, part of an
"axis of evil" in his State of the Union address in January and frequently voices support
for a "regime change." Saddam, meanwhile, decries Bush's policies and warns "the path
of blood can only lead to more blood" in an October speech.